Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.
Moderation rules are more lenient for this section, but try and play nicely.
EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist language, homophobic language, racist language, anti-muslim hate, transphobic language, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics, 5G conspiracy theories, the virus is a bioweapon, some weird bullshit about the UN taking over the world and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.
CEAC To Green Party Use Rail Freight Not On Road For Lowered Climate Emissions Air Pollution.
Wednesday, 30th Sept 2020.
Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2009/S00440/greens-announce-bold-plan-to-ensure-nz-transport-tackles-climate-change.htm
In this plan, “Greens Announce Bold Plan To Ensure NZ Transport Tackles Climate Change” CEAC challenges Green Party to consider using ‘Rail Freight’ in large amounts now, to tackle ‘Climate Change’, as their policy does not explicitly show they are planning for large scale shift to rail in their only cloudy reference to ‘Heavy freight’ they say, “Set standards and incentivise heavy freight to transition to zero emissions vehicles and be 100% powered by renewable energy by 2050.” This is way short of our need for urgent action on climate change, as we are now running out of time.
Importantly switching to use of rail now will give our community cleaner air and improve our health and wellbeing, there is the proof of the serious health issues the Green Party must consider why we need to switch to rail now and reduce the serious toxic particulate pollution emissions from truck diesel burning and tyre dust emissions communities are now threatened by more use of road freight. This Harvard analysis is the first nationwide study to show a statistical link, revealing a ‘large overlap’ between COVID-19 deaths and other diseases associated with long-term exposure to air pollution of fine particulate matter.
https://www.news18.com/news/world/new-research-links-air-pollution-to-higher-coronavirus-death-rates-2569253.html
Coronavirus patients in areas that had high levels of air pollution before the pandemic are more likely to die from the infection than patients in cleaner parts of the country, according to a new nationwide study that offers the first clear link between long-term exposure to pollution and COVID-19 death rates.
In an analysis of 3,080 U.S. counties, researchers at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that higher levels of the tiny, dangerous particles in air known as PM 2.5 were associated with higher death rates from the disease.
For weeks, public health officials have surmised a link between dirty air and death or serious illness from COVID-19, which is caused by the coronavirus. The Harvard analysis is the first nationwide study to show a statistical link, revealing a “large overlap” between COVID-19 deaths and other diseases associated with long-term exposure to fine particulate matter.
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/diesel-engines-public-health
“The results of this paper suggest that long-term exposure to air pollution increases vulnerability to experiencing the most severe COVID-19 outcomes,” the authors wrote.
• This evidence is yet another case for increasing the use of rail freight over road freight;
• To lower air pollution particulates ‘save public health’ in this new Harvard study.
New Harvard study shows heavy traffic particulate air pollution exposure through Cities with Ports has the potential for a public health threat to those who suffer Covid 19 deaths and other diseases associated with long-term exposure to air pollution from ‘fine particulate matter’.
More evidence;
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/diesel-engines-public-health
Diesel engine exhaust air pollution is causing most of the city air pollution is studies such as this statement from “The union of concerned scientists”
Quote from; Health impacts of diesel pollution
Diesel-powered vehicles and equipment account for nearly half of all nitrogen oxides (NOx) and more than two-thirds of all particulate matter (PM) emissions from US transportation sources.
Particulate matter or soot is created during the incomplete combustion of diesel fuel. Its composition often includes hundreds of chemical elements, including sulfates, ammonium, nitrates, elemental carbon, condensed organic compounds, and even carcinogenic compounds and heavy metals such as arsenic, selenium, cadmium and zinc.¹ Though just a fraction of the width of a human hair, particulate matter varies in size from coarse particulates (less than 10 microns in diameter) to fine particulates (less than 2.5 microns) to ultrafine particulates (less than 0.1 microns). Ultrafine particulates, which are small enough to penetrate the cells of the lungs, make up 80-95% of diesel soot pollution.
Particulate matter irritates the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs, contributing to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses and even premature death. Although everyone is susceptible to diesel soot pollution, children, the elderly, and individuals with preexisting respiratory conditions are the most vulnerable. Researchers estimate that, nationwide, tens of thousands of people die prematurely each year as a result of particulate pollution. Diesel engines contribute to the problem by releasing particulates directly into the air and by emitting nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, which transform into “secondary” particulates in the atmosphere.
Diesel emissions of nitrogen oxides contribute to the formation of ground level ozone, which irritates the respiratory system, causing coughing, choking, and reduced lung capacity. Ground level ozone pollution, formed when nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbon emissions combine in the presence of sunlight, presents a hazard for both healthy adults and individuals suffering from respiratory problems. Urban ozone pollution has been linked to increased hospital admissions for respiratory problems such as asthma, even at levels below the federal standards for ozone.
Diesel exhaust has been classified a potential human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Exposure to high levels of diesel exhaust has been shown to cause lung tumors in rats, and studies of humans routinely exposed to diesel fumes indicate a greater risk of lung cancer. For example, occupational health studies of railroad, dock, trucking, and bus garage workers exposed to high levels of diesel exhaust over many years consistently demonstrate a 20 to 50 percent increase in the risk of lung cancer or mortality.²
CEAC to Green Party; We need regional NZ rail to reduce the alarming increasing rate of truck freight emissions & diesel particulate air pollution as road freight transport is a large use of fuel and emitter of carbon emissions & air pollution confirmed by these studies.
Big tech firms may be handing Hong Kong user data to China
Allegation follows new law that lets Hong Kong ask for sensitive data if deemed to threaten national security
“For Hong Kong activists like Glacier Kwong, who is living outside Hong Kong at the moment but is a vocal pro-democracy advocate, the threat of having her information turned over to Beijing is reminiscent of the 2004 incident in which Yahoo complied with a Chinese request for identifying information about the journalist Shi Tao after he used a Yahoo account to send information about how China was restricting coverage of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre to a human rights forum in the US.
Shi was arrested and spent nearly 10 years in prison as a result of Yahoo’s disclosure, an act that was later described by a US congressman as akin to corporate collaboration with Nazi Germany. Yahoo had also shared information about the dissident Wang Xiaoning, who had been posting his writings on Yahoo forums anonymously. The activist was sentenced to a decade in prison after he was identified. He was released in 2012 and Yahoo publicly apologised for the disclosures.
Kwong says it would create “huge problems” for her and fellow activists if their most “highly sensitive and intimate” data – collected over many years of using Facebook and Google – was handed to Beijing.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/30/big-tech-firms-may-be-handing-hong-kong-user-data-to-china
Sad that breaking a woman nose while she lay in bed crying is ok in NZ, and the person who did this and ex partner gets discharged without conviction, so they can enjoy travel opportunities.
Victims rights are zero in NZ while offenders get off and enabled by our justice system, again and again.
Want to stop family violence, start with the police and politicians appealing this alarming ruling!!!
Accountancy firm director gets discharge without conviction after breaking ex-wife’s nose
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300114018/accountancy-firm-director-gets-discharge-without-conviction-after-breaking-exwifes-nose?fbclid=IwAR160HZ439r7DWSMgZavyXhTxhyIRqvhQ-w4a3bQkKlNbSWk_xqn96tysHg
Comments are closed.